Bing has 'invaded' my computer and substituted itself as the search engine with Firefox - I do not want Bing
My search engine page when I click on FF changed to Bing this morning. I installed Avast Virus Remover yesterday, and nothing else. All methods given on all the answer pages did not work (do not find the link) or I do not know how to get to the command (e.g. Tools - xxxx - xxx - which tools?) I can't open FF so I can't use any of its options, unless there is a way to open FF without this Bing thing.
Win 10. I ran all the AV's and malware programs and they found nothing because I really do not surf a lot. I can't say which version of FF because I can't open FF
Thanks
Chosen solution
Terry, core-el : thanks for the advice. I managed to do another refresh (the option you get when you try and uninstall FF) and it worked. I have a working FF. It is a bother as I still could not uninstall the previous version - FF automatically installed it to a different location.
Thanks heaps.
Sarel
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Try to start Firefox in Troubleshoot Mode to see if that works.
- Windows: hold down the Shift key while starting Firefox
- Mac: hold down the Options key while starting Firefox
- https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/diagnose-firefox-issues-using-troubleshoot-mode
No I still could not open FF. So frustating.
What happens when you try to launch Firefox?
As I click on FF - wherever I am i.e. clicking shortcut, or going to the menu and clicking on it or going to the FF folder and clicking on it - it goes looks as if opening FF and then immediately Bing opens
Bing is a search engine so it may be opening in Firefox or do you mean the Edge browser? If the former is the case, you may be able to change your search engine settings or your home page settings.
https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/change-your-default-search-settings-firefox https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/add-or-remove-search-engine-firefox https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/how-to-set-the-home-page https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/wrong-home-page-opens-when-i-start-firefox-how-fix
If the wrong browser is opening, you can make Firefox your default browser. If that doesn't work, there is something on your OS which you need to change.
https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/make-firefox-your-default-browser
sarel222 said
As I click on FF - wherever I am i.e. clicking shortcut, or going to the menu and clicking on it or going to the FF folder and clicking on it - it goes looks as if opening FF and then immediately Bing opens
Are you using Firefox on a different system to post in this thread? as your fist post details show you used Firefox 112.0 on Windows 10 to post this thread. Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 10.0; Win64; x64; rv:109.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/112.0
Firefox is a web browser and Bing is a search engine like Google and DuckDuckGo are. The company Mozilla does not have a search engine of their own.
Modified by James
Terry. I've already tried all the options that you provide. That is where I started - in the FF frequently asked questions as per Mozzilla page. Needless to say nothing worked. I agree that there is something in my OS that need to change but what?
James: I used FF as a browswer, and used Google as my search engine. I thought you guys would understand that. Sorry. Currently I can not open anything. When clicking on anything it goes straight to Bing - no browser, no search engine.
I don't know of any way of opening the bing website without a browser. Have a look at the Firefox launcher you are using. If it is faulty, can you remove it and create a new one?
Do a clean reinstall of the current Firefox release and delete the Firefox program folder before installing a fresh copy of the current Firefox release.
- download the Firefox installer and save the file to the desktop
*https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/all/#product-desktop-release
If possible uninstall your current Firefox version to cleanup the Windows Registry and settings in security software.
- do NOT remove "personal data" when you uninstall the current Firefox version, because this will remove all profile folders and you lose personal data like bookmarks and passwords including personal data in profiles created by other Firefox versions
Remove the Firefox program folder before installing that newly downloaded copy of the Firefox installer.
- (64-bit Firefox) "C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\"
- (32-bit Firefox) "C:\Program Files (x86)\Mozilla Firefox\"
- it is important to delete the Firefox program folder to remove all the files and make sure there are no problems with files that were leftover after uninstalling
Your personal data like bookmarks is stored in the Firefox profile folder, so you won't lose personal data when you reinstall or update Firefox, but make sure NOT to remove personal data when you uninstall Firefox as that will remove all Firefox profile folders and you lose your personal data.
If you keep having problems, you can create a new profile as a quick test to see if your current profile is causing the problem.
- https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/profiles-where-firefox-stores-user-data
- https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/back-and-restore-information-firefox-profiles
Reinstall Firefox
Chosen Solution
Terry, core-el : thanks for the advice. I managed to do another refresh (the option you get when you try and uninstall FF) and it worked. I have a working FF. It is a bother as I still could not uninstall the previous version - FF automatically installed it to a different location.
Thanks heaps.
Sarel